shifts down from
fourth gear (
high gear) of a
motor vehicle into the next lower
gear (third), thus cutting the speed of the engine. Used figuratively to describe anything which was previously moving swiftly but is now slowing down. See also
shift gears in this glossary.
Maybe I'll
blah-
blah-
blah..." and all of a sudden he doesn't feel so well, and so on; he didn't get much of a result and he slows down and goes into third
gear, and he puts it all on the back
burner, and so forth.
-Training Duplication (24 Jan. 62)